Cabinet Approves Over NIS 1 Billion for the City of Harish

The Cabinet approved over NIS 1 billion for the new city of Harish and the implementation of a multi-year plan to develop the city ahead of the anticipated move of thousands of young families in the coming years.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

"We approved, in the Cabinet, a budget of approximately NIS 1 billion ahead of converting the community of Harish into a city in Israel. I visited there, along with several ministers several weeks ago; this is an outstanding and unparalleled Zionist act. A new city has not been established in many years. This will be a new city along the lines of Modi’in; it will be the beginnings of a city of 50,000 people. I believe that it will grow far beyond this in the future.

We are in the midst of a great momentum of construction. Our goal is to advance development and demand and not the opposite. Tens of thousands of apartments are being built around the country, and Israel is in the midst of a great momentum of construction. We will continue to build. We will continue to do on behalf of the citizens of Israel."

Prime Minister’s Office Director General Eli Groner:

"This is an important and Zionist decision of unparalleled degree. For many years no new city has been established in Israel, and now we are doing it. Harish will be a quality residential location and tens of thousands of young families will soon move there."

The process of establishing this city began with an initial Government decision over five years ago. Approximately seven months ago, staff work began led by the Minister of Housing and Construction and his Director General, Eshel Armoni. After Prime Minister Netanyahu visited Harish last month and instructed PMO Director General Groner to advance the issue and submit a Government decision to promote Harish, with the active participation of the Finance and Interior ministries.

Today, Harish consists of only 300 households, but approximately 9,000 housing units, currently in various different stages of construction, have been marketed successfully in recent years. About 2,000 additional housing units will be marketed as part of the ‘affordable housing’ campaign. In the first stage about 12,000 housing units will be built and in the following stages this will be expanded to approximately 24,000 units.

As part of the decision, the Ministry of Housing will allocate about NIS 130 million in additional funds in order to promote construction plans for trade, industry and employment, reinforcement of the city’s public institutions, infrastructure maintenance and for the center of the city’s older section.

The decision that was formulated includes cooperation between many ministries, the allocation of over NIS 1 billion in resources and facilitates the efficient population of the city for the benefit, welfare and quality of life of its residents. Harish, which is located 50 minutes from Tel Aviv, 35 minutes from Haifa and 15 minutes from Hadera, will draw young families looking for quality of life and central location. The decision was formulated in coordination between the Prime Minister, Housing and Construction Minister, Finance Minister and Interior Minister, and involved the Education, Transportation and Road Safety, Public Security, Environmental Protection, Economy, Social Welfare and Social Services, and Health ministries.